The Federal Hockey League officially became a beer league Friday

The Federal Hockey League has four teams – the Danbury (Conn.) Whalers, the Danville (Ill.) Dashers, the Dayton (OH) Demons and the Watertown (N.Y.) Privateers.

The league once had 10 teams, but most have folded — something that’s not surprising when you dig a little deeper.

Prior to Friday night’s Dayton-Danville game, the FHL had been referred to as a beer league.

It officially became a beer league during the third period of an eventual 4-0 Dayton win.

Just when it looked like Danville’s Matt Puntureri, a journeyman who once suited up for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, and Dayton’s Jess Felton, a career minor leaguer, were about to drop the gloves, they came together for a hug.

That’s right, a hug. A penalty wasn’t issued.

Then, Puntureri pulled a beer out of his pants and began to chug.

Some of the 850 in attendance loved it. Others hated it.

At least one person threw a drink at the pair as they shamelessly skated around the ice.

The FHL’s salary cap is less than $100,000 per season, according to Wikipedia.

And while the price of admission is undoubtedly low, it’s hard to believe those inside the arena got their monies worth.

Our contributors

Bruce Garrioch is an award-winning journalist and a must-read in the hockey community. A Day-Oner at the Ottawa Sun, Garrioch is one of the top sports journalists in the country, covering the Senators since their return to the NHL in 1992-93. A 2009 winner of an Ontario Newspaper Award for his coverage of the Dany Heatley saga, Garrioch has a strong ability to break news and brings inside information with his Sunday NHL column, one of the most popular in the country. It is read by GMs, players and coaches who want the inside scoop. Garrioch has covered the 2008 Stanley Cup final for Sun Media, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. Mainly, Garrioch has the pulse of the Ottawa Senators. If people want to know what's happening they turn to him to get the info on contracts, negotiations, signings, trades and, of course, games.

Keaton Robbins is a national online editor with Sun Media and former reporter for the Toronto Sun. An advocate of North American soccer, Keaton also has a deep interest in the NHL, OHL, and NBA. He wishes every athlete played less like Rob Schremp and more like Danny Dichio.

Sun Media's leading soccer columnist, Larson has been following Major League Soccer since '96 and reports on the Canadian men's national team and Toronto FC. Follow him every week on Sun sites across Canada, Slam sports and in the Toronto Sun.

Matt Day has been an employee with Sun Media since June 2008. He began working as a jack-of-all-trades journalist in Niagara and is now a national online editor in Toronto. He still brags about being captain of his high school’s championship-winning football team. Matt’s interests include the NFL, NHL, junior hockey and five-pin bowling.